Castle Bottoms, Hartington Upper Quarter (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Hartington Upper Quarter.
In the historic county of Derbyshire.
Modern Authority of Derbyshire.
1974 county of Derbyshire.
Medieval County of Derbyshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK058676
Latitude 53.20557° Longitude -1.91296°

Castle Bottoms, Hartington Upper Quarter has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are no visible remains.

Description

'At Castle Bottoms, Fough Farm, near Hollinsclough, there are traces of extensive foundations, divided into compartments, sufficient for some old castle or hill fort' (Turner).
What was suggested as foundations for a castle is actually a small earthen dam, of some antiquity, but no longer in use (NDAT. 1171).
Neither of the above suggestions are supported by the ground evidence as there are no obvious earthworks. The only identifiable earthwork is a long bank which passes across a boggy area parallel to a ruined wall and on the route of the right of way. If this feature was interpreted as a dam, it is much more likely that this bank is a causeway across wet ground, or may represent a boundary. It could never be the foundations of a castle as the bank is not large enough and the siting is unsuitable. The field above is called 'Castle Bottom' and has been called such since 1604. This suggests that the idea of a castle in the vicinity existed before the dam/causeway was built. No documentary evidence was uncovered for there ever having been a castle in the vicinity (Taylor). (Derbyshire HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 7140.

Periodical Articles
- Turner, W., 1903, 'Notes on old Buxton and district' Derbyshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 25 p. 159-163 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Taylor, H., 1997, Fough Farm, Hartington Upper and Middle Quarter, Derbyshire. Archaeological Survey. No.5, p. 13-14

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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